Apple has reportedly booted out several crypto exchanges from its app store in India amid allegations that most of these platforms are illegally operating in the country.
TechCrunch reports that Binance, Kraken, Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitfinex and OKX’s apps are no longer accessible on Apple’s India app store, though customers who have already installed them on their devices can still use them.
The development comes after the nation’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) accused Binance, KuCoin, Huobi, Kraken, Gate.io, Bittrex, Bitstamp, MEXCGlobal and Bitfinex of violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (PMLA). The agency also asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the websites of these entities.
All Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VDA SPs) that operate in India are required to register with the FIU, but the agency says several offshore firms failed to comply.
“Till date 31 VDA SPs have registered with FIU IND. However, several offshore entities though catering to a substantial part of Indian users were not getting registered and coming under the Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) framework.”
The affected apps are still available on the Google Play Store in India and the websites are still accessible in the country.
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